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Aldi store sued over safety

Does a store in a bad neighborhood have an obligation to protect customers in its parking lot?

Theresa Whitelaw of Brown Deer was shopping at the Aldi food store at 5301 N. Hopkins St. on Aug. 31, 2007. She finished her shopping and was walking to her car in the parking lot at about 6:30 p.m. when an assailant with a knife approached her from behind and robbed her. In a lawsuit filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, she claims she suffered permanent injuries and emotional stress.

The lawsuit noted that Aldi employed a security guard at the store but that the guard was stationed indoors; it also noted that there were no security cameras in the parking lot.

Police were called to the store five times before Whitelaw's assault, according to the lawsuit -- twice for thefts from cars; twice the store was burglarized; once a thief was caught in the store and once the store was vandalized.

The block the store is located on had a worse record for crimes in 2007 -- there were 14 reports of assaults, 13 burglaries, 47 thefts and 12 vandalisms.

Whitelaw's lawyer, Gary Lippow, asserted that Aldi's had an obligation to provide a safe place for its customers to park and shop.

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